The unholy trinity of the left Are Israel capitalism and America. The alliance is not just forged around Anti-Semitism but an equally irrational hatred of America. Ther Left champion anybody who will offer up a challenge to the US without any reguard to their lack of moral charachter. For consideration, Josef Cohen

Until then your ramblings about being a victim will have little weight.

There might have been some merit to leftist rhetoric until 1917. But the left has been wrong ever since. Remember leftist idiots defending Stalin? Glorifying Mao? How about Che Guevera spreading Cuban prosperity in S. America? Even the collapse of the Soviet Empire could not discourage die-hard leftists. Socialism brought poverty to over half the world but the left hasn't noticed. Closer to home, look at the mess our socialist founding fathers left us. So why be surprised when the morons defend Islamic facists. They can't even figure out that they would be the first ones killed by Islamicists, after the Jews, of course.

He said that anyone who is against the existence of Israel is an anti-Semite!

Actually, beyound anti-semitism, the left and Islamists have in common. Primarily, a disdain for Western values: Free enterprise, democracy, and tolerance towards groups who want to maintain their particularity.

An unHoly, irrational, hypocritical alliance. An alliance that confuses crime and punishment, cause and effect, oppressor and oppressed, life and death, innocent and guilty, light and darkness, falseness and truth, duplicity and survival. Argument ad populum vs a real humanity. The alliance has led to a world of fear, suspicion, smallness, and lack of clarity.

The what you call "leftist" or socialists brought us the 40 hours week , right to vote , social security , and so on . Here in Israel the kibbutsim were amongst the best of the founders of the state . The Mapai , also left in your vocabulary , gave us David ben Gurion , one of the many great men . The biggest error they made were their concessions to the religious parties , and this is the origin of many of our actual problems . And talking about mess our founders left . Israel integrated millions of refugees and other Olim . Israel is one of the great Hi Tec countries in the world , a high GDP . You probably did'nt know Israel in the sixties , as i did , what a difference with today . If you call this mess , you are blind , or worser , you do not want to see .

Outstanding article!

does not the current economic strength of israel come from socialist values and a lot of economic planning?

We oppose occupation of Muslims and their lands ...

I don't deny some of the accomplishments of our founders. I did not mean to imply that they were 100% wrong. The fact of our high GDP & Hi Tech industries is a great achievement. But, it was not socialism that brought this about. We would have been even more successful - and if we want to continue our successes, we need much less gov't intervention in business, far more competition in banking, investing, even retail. We need comprehensive reform in education as well. The biggest mistake the left made & continues to make is to seek peace with our nasty neighbors & trying to turn our unpatriotic Arab citizens into "Israelis". I can't disagree with you about giving too much power to the ultra-religious but I would remind you that some compromise is necessary or what is the point of a Jewish State? Anyway, the point of the article was the alliance of the Left with Islamic facists - an ideology that is the very antithesis of liberal western thought. It would seem that anti-Semitism makes for strange bedfellows.

What we all have to remember is that the "left" in the US is dominated by secular "Charlie" JINO"S.

sad to admit but we ourselves have such a large group of left wing antisemites in israel. when will we realize that we are jewish?

End the brutal and barbaric occupation and 99% of world anti-semitism would desolve. That is the sole reason for it's resurgence. From what I hear personaly from fervent zionist they do not want a settlement since that would remove their cover for stealing more land from the Palestinians. Their argument is that there can be no solution to that issue except removal of Palestinans from their anscestral homeland to Jordan.

In Russia they got right to vote only after socialism gone in 1990, Just 16 years ago. Bofore that there was no right to vote, nobody couldn't vote, NOBODY. There were no elections. Communist party had chosen a leader for everyone. As to "economic planning" in Israel, you are probably talking about Olmet's and Peres' families planning for the future of their kids outside Israel, or you are talking about the total colapse of the Soviet economic planning. Remember that most Arab countries, like Egypt, Syria, Libia, and also Iran, etc were modeled on the socialist Germany (in 1930-1945); that is why they called Islamic socialist countries. Marx is the biggest hero in Syria and the most radical palestinians, and Abbas was educated in the socialist Gernamy (GDR).

Mr. Small has given a lovely "small" definition of "left" - leaving out millions of "lefties" who do NOT fall into his tiny category of the mundane and extremely stupid. J. Carter wrote a book on a subject he has almost no knowledge of. That does make him a "spokesman" of the left. I am a lefty. Yes - a flaming left wing activist. I love my country. I believe in it. I love my people - the Jews - and believe we must always aspire to be the very best we can be. I also revere compassion and see justice as a critical element of any real society. I am FOR the fence, AND for a 2 state solution. I am FOR greater active rights for Arab citizens, and for Jewish citizens. Mr. Small needs to take a better look at "LEFT" before deciding that the world can only suceed leaning right.

Look at the talkbacks, look at #11's answer to #7. Quote: "can't disagree with you about giving too much power to the ultra-religious but I would remind you that some compromise is necessary or what is the point of a Jewish State? " So if zionism has to "compromise" with and succomb to pressure from the religious to create a "jewish state", then what kind of state does zionism ideally desire? A non-jewish one? The difference between the "left" and "right" here, seems to be that the "left" are more straight forward about their objectives. And therefore, less dangerous.

is that they are not guided by principles but by hatred, and Israel is the one they hate the most these days. Were they to do some thinking, they would realize that when supporting the Muslims, they are supporting a powerful world movement bent on oppression, hatred and violence. Betraying their principles of justice, they have supported Castro, Mao, North Vietnam, the DDR and the Soviet regime, including Stalin, among many others dictators and anti-Semites. The left should be as discredited by now as the bloody dictators they have backed over the years. As far as the Israeli left goes, it is an embarrassment, a shame. Nowhere else do we see such a group so blind to the reality of their own country. It's a mystery what could motivate people to be so mean and self-destructive. Were they to be motivated by the existence of injustice, as they say, where is their compassion for the Jews who suffer constantly from harassment, terror and threats of total annihilation?

No offense but it is perhaps you that needs to take a deeper look, you would be shunned by the far left today, dumped in with everyone else who receives their scorn. Please try and go to an anti war demonstration in europe or the USA or similar left event and state you support the security fence on a sign and see what happens. If you are an exception bravo, but the exception does not make up the rule and the left has been hijacked by those who would despise you in an instant. What you describe yourself as is today a moderate, not the fashionable political definition of 'the left' - sorry.

Leftists where wrong since Marx and Engels an other distortion of some messianic views. They where the root of the problem.

You wrote :....the biggest mistake ..is to make peace ......Do'nt you want to live in peace ? Is this not the purpose of all Israelis ? Or do you have another solution ? The European left is anti globalisation , anti USA , and "protects" the "weak" . For them Israel is a symbol of what they do no like . They are generally not racists . Those were always their "ideals" . Do'nt forget that without the support of the USSR , Israel would never have received arms from Czechoslovakia . That without their support the USA would not have recognised Israel , that Truman was against Israel's declaratiom of independance . And what will you do with the million Arabs living here ? do you want to expell them in the same way we were expelled from many countries during history ? You are not leftist if you want a solution for our situation . The status quo can not hold .

I once heard that Eskimos have 29 different words for "snow", each describing a different "snow". Would that English had 29 different words to describe the different kinds of "liberals". There are probably 10 different "liberal" types who are supportive of Western Civilization and its continuing. There are likely 10 different types who are indifferent to Western Civilization continuing or not. And, very probably, there are 9 different "liberal" types who are bent on the destruction of Western Civilization. The first step in any war is identifying the enemy. There seems to be more than one; some being more dangerous than others. Unfortunately, there are also 29 different kinds of "conservatives" and "moderates". Not to worry! I have a strong feeling some bird is going to kill us all before we kill each other. G_d Bless Us Every One!

Personally, I'm concerned that so many people around the world stay silent about the apartheid conditions in Palestine, the cruel treatment of the Palestinians by the Israeli government. Perhaps the disdain for the government of Israel is justified? But that doesn't make it anti-semitism. Would there be as many fanatical religious types if the Muslim peoples had been treated more justly by the West all along? What if the CIA hadn't ousted the European-educated, elected president of Iran in 1953? What if the USA hadn't been buddy-buddy with Saddam Hussein? What if Palestinians had been fairly treated when Israel was built on Palestinian homes? What if Americans learned to be less greedy and materialistic and changed their lifestyles to use less oil?

what if canadians shut their mouth and stop talking because they are such a useless country? frenchie

The author would have done much better to stop using anti-semitism as a scare crow to silence liberals against the crimes of Israeli policies against the Palestinians. Just take the statistics of last year, statistics confirmed by no other than the Israeli left and Israeli human rights organizations. More than 610 Palestinians killed, Two families completely annihilated one at the Gaza beach shelling and the other at the Beit Hanoun massacre. The author should better teach himself that human life is equally precious (irrespective of the religious background of the individual concerned. That is why liberals in Europe are troubled with the inactions agaist these crimes as they would be equally troubled had the same crimes been committed agasinst any other human being (Jewish, Moslem, Bhuddist,....) Israel is the one of the few countries in the World where the rights of the individual are decided by his/her religious background. Let the author be true to himself and stop his inaction against the loss of the lives of 610 people and the lives of 2 Palestinian families . For the author all this do not count because the victims do not carry the pure and right genes he thinks he has. This injustice and prejudice is what is playing in the hands of extremists. Had the world been just to the Palesyinians (in the same way it is favorably prejudiced towards the Israeli government acts) then the left liberals (including Israeli leftists) would not have felt that it is their duty to stand up and criticize the policies of the Israeli government.

Ryan dear, I wonder, where did your family come from to occupy Canda? France? England? Please, the hypocrisy is almost too much to bare. When you return your home to the native inhabitants then you can be in a position to give advice, otherwise don't bother.

Canada is a very good and tolerant country, with nice people. Government immigration policies have dictated for some time that preference is given to non-European immigrants, many of them from Muslim countries. Muslim immigration to Canada has doubled in the last decade. The provinces of Ontario and Quebec are home to the majority of Muslims in Canada although there are significant numbers of them in other provinces as well.

Behind all of Mr. Small's obfuscation looms a single, simple reality: Israel's occupation, colonization and annexation of conquered territory. He might devote his energies to an examination of how one small country's actions have led to an increase in anti-Semitism worldwide.